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SCmNGE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 166. 



to partake of food and to rest. No one 

 questioned him, and for four days he spoke 

 but little, for if within that time he should 

 reveal his vision it would be the same as 

 lost to him. Afterwards he could confide 

 it to some old man known to have had a 

 similar manifestation, and it then became 

 the duty of the youth to seek until he 

 should find the animal he had seen in his 

 trance, when he must slay it and preserve 

 some part of it (in cases where the vision 

 had been of no concrete form, symbols were 

 taken to represent it) ; this memento was 

 ever after to be the sign of his vision, his 

 totem, the most sacred thing he could ever 

 possess, for by it his natural powers were 

 to be so reenforced as to give him success 

 as a hunter, victory as a warrior, and even 

 the power to see into the future. 



Belief concerning Nature and Life. — The 

 foundation of the Indian's faith in .the effi- 

 cacy of the totem rested upon his belief 

 concerning nature and life. This belief was 

 complex and involved two prominent ideas : 

 first, that all things, animate and inan- 

 imate, were permeated by a common life ; 

 and, second, that this life could not be 

 broken, but was continuous. 



Tlie Common Life. — The idea of a com- 

 mon life was in its turn complex, but its 

 dominating force was conceived to be that 

 which man recognized within himself as 

 will-power. This power which could make 

 or bring to pass he named Wa-kow'-da. 



The question arises : Did the Omaha 

 regard Wa-koii'-da as a supreme being? 

 There is no evidence that he did so regard 

 the power represented by that word, nor is 

 there any intimation that he had ever con- 

 ceived of a single great ruling spirit. 



Anthropomorphism. — The word Wa-kori'-da 

 appears to have expressed the Indian's con- 

 ception of immanent life, manifest in all 

 things. Growing out of this conception 

 was a kind of anthropomorphism ; the char- 

 acteristics of man were projected upon all 



nature : the rock, in the rituals, was ad- 

 dressed as 'Aged One!' sitting with ' fur- 

 rowed brow ' and ' wrinkled loins ;' the 

 tree lived a double life in the Indian's 

 fancy ; as did the water, the fire, the winds 

 and the animals. This duality can be rec- 

 ognized in myths, in legends, in rituals, 

 and in the paraphernalia of ceremonies, in 

 which there is a constant confusion of the 

 external aspect and the anthropomorphic 

 conception. All things were distinct from 

 man, but in the subtle bond of a common 

 life, embodying the idea of will, or directive 

 energy, they were akin to him, and could 

 lend him the aid of their special powers, 

 even as he could help or hinder his fellow 

 men. 



Will-power. — We trace the Omaha's esti- 

 mate of his own will-power in the act called 

 Wa-zhi?i'-dhe-dhe (wa-zhi?i, directive en- 

 ergy; dhe-dhe, to send), in which, through 

 the singing of certain songs, strength could 

 be sent to the absent warrior in the stress 

 of battle ; or thought and will be projected 

 to help a friend win a game or a race ; or 

 even so to influence the mind of a man as 

 to affect its receptivity of the supernatural. 

 Aside from the individual practice of this 

 power, there was, so to speak, a collective 

 energy exercised by the Ho?i'-he-wa-chi so- 

 ciety in the act of 'Wa-zhi?i'-a-gdhe (wa- 

 zhi?i, directive energy ; a-gdhe, to place 

 upon), where the members so fixed their 

 will upon an obnoxious person as to isolate 

 him from all helpful relations with men 

 and animals and leave him to die. A 

 similar ability to aid or to injure was im- 

 puted to the elements and all natural forms. 

 The winds could bring health to man ; the 

 stone insure him long life ; the elk could 

 endow the pursued with speed, and the 

 hawk make the warrior sure to fall upon 

 his enemy. But it is to be noticed that 

 while man's own will was believed to act 

 directly, without intervening instrumental- 

 ity upon his fellows, the supplementing of 



